Further Thoughts on a Philology of the Unfinished and on the Language of Art: Michelangelo’s Sonnet 58 (and Some Proposals for the Madrigal 246)

Abstract

The essay deals with textual and interpretative problems of Michelangelo’s poetry; in particular, it deals with the problem that his manuscripts nearly always bear the signs of an unfinished process of development. A historical and stylistic analysis shows that editors of the Rime have hardly ever accepted the ‘unfinished’ as a peculiar characteristic of Buonarroti’s writing. Even the important critical edition by Enzo Noè Girardi includes some limitations and could be improved. The author provides a new edition of sonnet 58, which is an exemplary case of an unfinished poem, in that it becomes possible to read only after a reconstruction of scattered autographed fragments. in the second part of the essay, the author proposes an interpretation and a date of composition of one version of madrigal 246. In both of the poems examined one may trace expressions that are connected in various ways with artistic language: by making internal comparisons within the corpus as well as comparisons to other poets, determinations are sought regarding the genesis, style and significance of such language.